Featuring Author/Educator - Kathy Stemke

Today I'm delighted to welcome author/educator, Kathy Stemke, to my blog.


Kathy: I’m soooo excited to be here, Kevin.

I'm so glad to hear it.  Any particular reasons for the excitement?

Kathy: Within the next couple of weeks my first printed picture book, “Trouble on Earth Day,” will be available for purchase. I’ve been waiting for over two years for this incredible event to happen.

What’s it about?

Kathy: It’s about friendship, helping others and helping the Earth.

Why will kids like it?

Kathy: They will fall in love with the adorable characters, enjoy learning about recycling, and get lost in the exciting story of two new friends.

What makes your book different than other picture books on the market today?

Kathy: As I said before it is a wonderful story and it has 22 pages of songs, discussion questions, worksheets, games, activities, and recycling projects to do at school or at home.

Can you give us an example of one of the songs?

Kathy: Sure, Kevin. Here’s one verse of Shelby’s Recycling Song.

Tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb

Shelby squirrel saved and saved,
Saved and saved, saved and saved,
Shelby squirrel saved and saved,
She used her things again.

Can you give us an idea of the worksheets and activities you offer in the book?

Kathy: There are word searches and matching activities as well as recycling games and silly compound words. Here’s a darling coloring sheet that kids can get from my blog. While you’re there, you can also sign up for my free monthly newsletter, Movement and Rhythm. http://educationtipster.blogspot.com/

Congratulations on your new book and thanks for stopping by today.

Kathy: You’re welcome. It was fun. Happy spring!

Kathy Stemke’s websites:

Moving Through all Seven Days link:
http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#
http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/kathystemke

Follow me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6147172660&topic=4910#!/kathymarescomatthews.stemke?ref=profile

Follow me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/kathy-stemke/13/269/285

Virtual Book Tour - Ransom Noble

Today, my first foray into virtual book tours begins. My guest author is Ransom Noble. I'm being interviewed by Kathy Stemke. If you get a chance, please stop by at http://educationtipster.blogspot.com and say hello.

But is with great pleasure that I welcome Ransom to my blog.

Ransom Noble has always loved stories. She’s been an avid reader and writer as long as she can remember. Believing determination can help one attain any goal, she set her sights high and achieved many goals. Her love of the sciences led her to a career in mechanical engineering and often pushes her imagination into the speculative fiction realm.

Ransom and her husband enjoy watching movies and playing games with their friends. She likes to go see local bands play and occasionally attends sports events at her alma mater. Her live-and-let-live policy extends to stinging insects and spiders, which earned her the nickname the Wasp Whisperer.

Ransom currently resides in Des Moines, Iowa, though she’s lived several other places. She's sure she isn't fond of snow since she was born in Modesto, California, and didn't learn what it was until she was eight. She graduated from engineering at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Her work includes “Qui’s Contract,” a short story that appeared in Ruins Metropolis in June 2008 and The Art of Science, which will be published in 2009.

Ransom, so we can get to know you, please answer a few questions for us.

What is going on with your writing these days?

Working on my second YA novel and I just finished a submission to a science-fiction anthology.

Why do you write?

Because I love it and I can’t stop. Ideas pop in my head, even while writing other things. I don’t want to let them escape and I enjoy sharing them with others.

How old were you when you first started writing?

I’m not sure. I remember in 4^th or 5^th grade I was chosen to be part of a journal because of my story about a dragon and a mouse. I think they took the best elementary submissions from all over Iowa, but it’s been awhile. I know I started making up stories around 1 year old, because we got a TV around that time. Mom would catch me watching it (when it was off) and asked me what I was doing. Apparently I told her it was more fun to watch when it was off because I was making up my own shows. Through junior high I made up several stories to fill the required journals for English class and continued because my classmates loved to read them (and I loved to write them and thrived on their participation). Somewhere toward the end of junior high and into high school I switched to poetry, then back to prose when I began college classes (during high school). I had to keep my first Physics notebook from college because it had too many story scenes where I got bored during lectures. When I got out of college, I took a couple correspondence courses because I wanted to learn more and give myself an excuse to write, but work often made me too tired to do it on my own. Still, I finished my first novel while working as well as several short stories and some unfinished novels. Now I write full-time, as well as being a stay at home soon to be mom.

Who are your influences?

Judy Blume, Robert Heinlein, Mercedes Lackey

Where is your favorite place to write?

Somewhere quiet without many distractions. I can write with distractions, it’s just easier when they’re not around. I also like music going while I do, sometimes.

Can you list all your book titles so people can look for them?

Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology: Ruins Metropolis, by Hadley Rille books

Upcoming: The Art of Science, YA novel by 4RV Publishing, LLC.

Can you tell us where to find more information on you? Website? Blog?

www.ransomnoble.wordpress.com

Is there a place where readers can reach you?

Noble.ransom@gmail.com

Thank you for stopping by Ransom.

Lots of Stuff Happening

Today has been one of those crazy days when everything seems to be happening at once. My first foray into virtual book tours will begin on March 1. I’ll be appearing on Kathy Stemke’s site and I’ll be hosting Ransom Noble. It should be interesting. I’ve been working on completing a new interview and that’s exactly what I started out doing this morning.

Then I received an email from an old friend of mine. We lost touch a few years ago. The last time we spoke was right after 9/11. He told me that he had been trying to find me for long time. He’s been working on a memoir type book about growing up in the Bronx and wanted my input on it. We were in the same Kindergarten class together and were friends right through high school. After that, he moved to the west coast and I’ve only spoken to him sporadically since. He’s got a friend out there who would like to make a movie out of this memoir, but he needs the completed book first. This should do wonders for my writing since it will force me to go exploring through the nooks and crannies of my own childhood. Without going into particulars, I have to warn you that if this book is turned into a movie, there’s a very good possibility that it will have an R rating.

Then, I received an email from my publisher. It looks like my rhyming picture book, “If I Could Be Anything” will be the next book to be published after “The Sister Exchange”. I was a little surprised since that book was the most recent submission I made to Guardian Angel Publishing. But it’s nice to know what’s coming so I can plan for the book’s release.

Finally, Kai Strand is a member of my critique group, The Prose Shop. She interviewed me and several other members of my group. She posted the interviews today. If you would like to see the interviews of some very talented writers, please visit her blog at http://cleanwriter.livejournal.com/


Whew! I’m exhausted, but in a good way. Now what did I do with those new interview questions? …